Legen der Karten

On a player’s turn, he may play one of his 2 triangular tiles instead of drawing a normal tile. The triangular tiles are placed according to the usual rules; they must be placed so that at least one of the shorter sides of the tile touches a previously placed tile (not corner-to-corner only) or the longer side touches the longer side of another triangular tile.

Example: A triangular tile may be placed as shown here

Example: These triangular tiles may be placed as shown here too

In addition, any city, road, and field segments must continue segments already in play. Note: The longer side of a triangular tile may never be placed against the side of a normal tile.

This road continues across the two triangular tiles

A triangular tile may not be placed as shown here

Tiles with expansion features: Some of the tiles from the CundCo version contain features from the Hills & Sheep and Crop Circles[4][5] expansions. If you are not playing with those expansions along with Halflings, you may disregard those features.

Dreieckskarte mit einem Kornkreis, einem Schaf und einem Weinberg

Dreieckskarte mit einem Hügel

Hills: If a player places a triangular tile containing a Hill feature, and you are playing with the Hills & Sheep expansion, the player immediately draws a second (normal) tile, in accordance with the Hills & Sheep rules, and places it face down under the triangular tile. The other “half” of the face down tile may be covered with another triangular tile at a later time. Both triangular tiles would then be considered part of the same Hill.

Wertung

WICHTIGE HINWEISE

Note 1 - Rule changes: After the original rules of 2014, the scoring rules for this expansion were changed in 10/2015.

Original rules: a triangular tile scores as a normal landscape tile (1 point per tile). If there are 2 triangular tiles in the same square “space”, they still only count as 1 point (together) when scoring a feature: road, city or cloister.

New rules: a triangular tile scores as a normal landscape tile (1 point per tile). If there are 2 triangular tiles in the same square “space”, they will count as 1 point each when scoring a feature: road, city or cloister.

The scoring rules next reflect the new ones.

Note 2 - Unclear basic rules: Due to the lack of clarity in the original rules and in later official clarifications up to date, triangular gaps pose a source of controversy affecting:

Completed features: It is not clear in some cases whether a feature containing triangular gaps is considered completed and therefore can be scored: The original scoring rules (and later clarifications) only covered cloisters but no details have been provided for cities, roads or farms, where numerous questions have no official answer yet. [6][7]

Undefined interaction with other expansions: The landscape discontinuities triangular gaps originate affect the mechanics and/or the scoring of several other expansions. Only partial rule clarifications, if any, have been provided in order to mitigate some of the issues detected.

No more clarifications will be provided by HiG. Based on the existing rules and clarification snippets, players try to extrapolate some house rules to address any issues they may encounter, but no consensus can be reached.

Cloisters: When playing with Halflings, a cloister is considered to be completed even if one or more of its surrounding tiles are triangular tiles. In this case, a triangular tile scores as a normal landscape tile (1 point per tile surrounding the cloister.) If there are 2 triangular tiles in the same square “space”, they still only count as 1 point each for scoring a cloister. [9]

Endwertung

The game ends immediately at the end of the turn in which the last normal land tile is placed. If any player still has any unplayed triangular tiles in front of them, they may no longer play them. Final scoring then takes place. [10]

Andere Erweiterungen

>> Allgemeine Überlegungen

When a Halfling tile is beside a triangular gap, the Halfling tile counts as a single tile. When 2 Halfling tiles are side-by-side to create one square, they count as a single tile each. This is relevant when considering cloister scoring, city scoring, road scoring, Dragon movement, the Plague token placement, the Flier movement, etc. (10/2014; updated 10/2015)

Rule clarification: When moving the dragon, triangle tiles are considered individual tiles.

Open question: Can it be assumed that the dragon can move past a triangular gap? Clarifications for other expansions such as The Plague (see below), may lead to a positive conclusion but there is no official confirmation.

Example: The dragon moves counting triangular tiles independently (as in steps 2, 3 and 5) and skips any triangular gap in its way (as in step 5.) Skipping triangular gaps is not officially confirmed in an explicit way.

There is no official clarification regarding how tower range is calculated involving Halflings beyond the general considerations above.

Notes:

Rule clarification: When computing the tiles affected by the tower range, triangle tiles are counted as individual tiles.

Open question: Can it be assumed that triangular gaps, if any present, are ignored in the tower range calculation? Clarifications for other expansions such as German/Dutch and Belgian Monasteries (see below), may lead to a positive conclusion but there is no official confirmation.

Example: The picture shows the tiles affected by the tower using different shades of green to identify tiles within range 1 and range 2. The range stretch takes into account triangular tiles independently and skips any triangular gap in the way. Skipping triangular gaps is not officially confirmed in an explicit way.

A barn can be placed as long as 4 tiles touch at the intersection, even if there is one or more Halfling tiles. (10/2015)

Examples with square and triangle tiles:

A: The barn can be placed in these cases

B: The barn cannot be placed in this case

Additionally the barn placement rules have been updated as follows: The base ground for the barn has to be stable so it cannot wiggle. This means that under the barn:

all tiles have to touch each other in the middle;

no quarter is empty in the middle; and

all tiles have farm in the middle for the placement of the barn.

See the following examples involving Halfling tiles and double-size tiles (see Castles in Germany.) (04/2016)

Examples with triangle and double-sized (its long side) tiles:

A: The barn can be placed in these cases

B: The barn cannot be placed in these cases

Examples with triangle and double-sized (its short side) tiles:

A: The barn can be placed in these cases

B: The barn cannot be placed in these case

Note: The rules update from 10/2015 overrides, in certain cases, the original four-tile intersection requirement for the placement of the barn defined originally for square tiles. This happens in favor of providing stability to the barn when tiles with other geometries are considered, as can be seen in the examples involving double-size tiles and/or triangle tiles.

There is no official rules on how barns interact with the landscape discontinuities that can be generated by Halflings.

Notes:

Open question: Can triangular gaps be considered as holes in the farm landscape? If so, certain tile configuration could lead to the creation of separate farms that converge at an intersection, some of them eligible for barn placement. There is no official rule or clarification stating how triangle gaps affect farms.

Open question: When placed on a farm convergence intersection, does the barn connect these separate farms to form one single farm? There is no official rule or clarification on this point, but the official rules for barn placement were designed to ensure it was always placed on one single farm.

House rule 1: Triangular gaps could be considered as limits of the landscape (the same as square holes), so several farms can converge at a tile intersection and be disconnected.

House rule 2: The barn, when placed (legally) at a point where several farms meet, they should be considered as merged into one single farm. This seems reasonable as the placement of additional Halfling tiles filling the gaps would not alter the previous situation but resolve to materialize the assumed landscape continuity. Additionally, all the barn scoring rules would apply as usual.

There is no official clarification regarding how bridges can interact with Halflings.

Notes:

Open question: Can a bridge be placed on a square space only occupied by one to two Halflings?

House rule: A house rule could allow the placement of the bridge only if it stands on a stable base ground following the lead of the clarifications for the Abbey and the Mayor's barn (see above). This would mean that bridges could be deployed on a place occupied by a square tile or two Halflings, but not if occupied by one single Halfling.

Open question: Can it be assumed that triangular gaps, if any present, are ignored and only the Halfling tiles are taken into account for computing the Flier distance? Clarifications for other expansions such as German/Dutch and Belgian Monasteries (see below), may lead to a positive conclusion but there is no official confirmation. See the examples below following this assumption.

Example 1: This image shows how square tiles and holes are considered when calculating the Flier distance for a horizontal trajectory. This example follows the official rules.

Example 2: This image shows how triangle tiles (ignoring triangular gaps) are considered when calculating the Flier distance for a horizontal trajectory. Skipping triangular gaps is not officially confirmed in an explicit way.

Example 3: This image shows how triangle tiles are considered when calculating the Flier distance for a diagonal trajectory.

Example 4: This image shows how triangle tiles (ignoring triangular gaps) are considered when calculating the Flier distance for a diagonal trajectory. The same flier distance would result no matter the orientation of the triangular tile with distance 1. Skipping triangular gaps is not officially confirmed in an explicit way.

Open question: How to proceed if the Flier, following a diagonal trajectory, has to land on a square tile occupied by two triangle tiles whose long side is aligned with such trajectory? No official clarification exists. A house rule may dictate that the player may choose a feature of either tile.

Example 5: This image shows how triangle tiles are considered when calculating the Flier distance for a diagonal trajectory. This particular case, due to the orientation of the Halflings, has two possible tiles with distance 1. A house rule could determine that if a Flier had to land with such a distance, he/she could choose either of them as the landing tile.

House rule: A house rule could define that the Flier distance is calculated taking into account square tiles, square gaps and triangular tiles. If the landing place contains two triangular tiles with the same distance, the player will choose either of them at his/her convenience.

A triangle tile takes the place of a regular landscape tile. Thus, a single triangle hole in the map does not stop the row or column for scoring for German and Dutch/Belgian Monasteries's abbot. Only a hole of a complete regular landscape tile interrupts the row or column. (3/2015)

The following image shows how triangle tiles are considered individually when scoring an abbot placed on a German Monastery. It can be seen that triangular gaps are ignored.

There is no official clarification regarding how German Castles interact with Halflings beyond the general considerations above.

Note:

House rule: A German Castle could be considered completed if totally surrounded by square tiles and spaces occupied by one or two Halflings, following the official ruling for cloisters.

House rule: The scoring of a German Castle could be 2 points for the German Castle tile plus 1 point per surrounding tile (square or triangular), taking into account the official rules for cloisters.

Example: This German Castle will get 13 points:

2 point from the German Castle tile

5 points from triangular tiles

6 points from regular tiles

The German Castle completion and scoring rule is not officially confirmed in an explicit way.

Community rules

>> Introduction

This section provides a set basic unofficial community rules to navigate through the the pitfalls found when playing Halflings. They are not official but will help solve some of the issues derived from the lack of rules for the expansion itself and the interactions with other expansions.

The Carcassonne base rules define the behavior and interactions based on a square grid occupied by tiles and holes. The problems with Halflings arise from the lack of a full set of rules that cover all the cases when a square space is occupied by a triangular tile (that leaves a triangular gap) or two triangular tiles.

Triangular tiles are considered as individual tiles, and this affects several aspects of the basic game mechanics. However, triangular gaps become a serious generator of continuous conflict. The incomplete clarifications to the Halflings rules leave behind a field full of pitfalls and a few hints that players try to squeeze and analyze looking for answers that will never be officially confirmed by HiG.

With this context, after detailing in the previous section the rules, clarifications, open questions and some house rules for the interactions between Halflings and other expansions, we'll try to put together some basic remarks that could serve as a short guideline that distill the aforementioned material.

>> Rationale

Two principles serve as a cornerstone:

Triangular tiles are counted as individual tiles

Triangular gaps show two different behaviors depending on the context:

A triangular gap can behave as a hole, for example, in a feature

A triangular gap can be ignored, for example, when moving a figure

The table below sums up the different contexts where issues arise and provide an appropriate ruling. But first let's list the game contexts taken into consideration:

Landscape Continuity: how triangular tiles and gaps affect various features, such as a farm or a city

Feature Placement: how triangular tiles and gaps affect the placement of a feature, such as an abbey

Feature Completeness: how triangular tiles and gaps affect a feature to be considered as completed, such as a city or a cloister

Featuring Scoring: how triangular tiles and gaps affect the scoring of a feature, such as a German Monastery

Figure Placing/Movement: how figure mechanics are affected by triangular tiles and gaps; for example, the dragon

Action Range / Trajectory calculation: how action ranges for a tower or the trajectory of a flier are affected by triangular tiles and gaps

>> How to deal with triangular tiles and gaps

Important Reminder: Triangular tiles are considered as individual tiles. Bear this in mind when placing followers or other figures, and when scoring features.

The following table summarizes the community rules for conflicting scenarios.

Triangular Tiles and Triangular Gap Behavior

Gap Behavior

Landscape Continuity

Feature Placement

Feature Completeness

Feature Scoring

Placing / Moving a Figure

Action range / Trajectory Calculation

A hole

Farm (1)

Farm

Bridge

City, Road

City, Road

City, Road

Ignored

Abbey (2)

Cloister, Shrine, Abbey, Garden, German Monastery (monk)

Cloister, Shrine, Abbey, Garden, German Monastery (monk)

Dragon

Tower, Flier (3)

German Monastery (abbot)

Flea Token

Notes:

(1) - Farm continuity: The placement of a barn can alter farm continuity if it merges separate farms touching at intersection it is placed on

(2) - Abbey placement: An eligible place for an abbey requires its four sides not to be square holes

(3) - Flier landing: if the Flier has to land on a square space with two triangular tiles side by side when following a diagonal trajectory (i.e., both share the same distance), the player has to choose one of them at his/her convenience as landing tile

>> How to deal with the barn

Additionally, these are the community rules for the barn:

Placement Rules: It is placed on the intersection of four square corners where all quarters are partially or fully occupied and meet in the middle. That is, the barn is always placed on a stable base ground. At an intersection can meet from 3 (involving a double-sized tile) up to 8 tiles (all of them Halflings), and all of them should have only farmland to allow the barn to be placed.

Landscape Continuity: The barn will merge any farms touching at the intersection where it is placed. Thus, farm scoring will happen as usual. Any additional triangular tile placed in any gaps left under the barn will materialize the assumed farm continuity.

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The sheep on the tile counts as a "permanent" sheep token every time that a shepherd on the associated field scores his sheep. (11/2014)

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The circular crop circle on the Halfling tile is a Joker. This means that the player who places this tile can decide if he or she wants to treat it as a shield, a pitchfork, or a club. (11/2014)

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The following examples show the consequences of the poorly-defined rules as there are cases where no official ruling dictates if a city is completed.

Example 1: This city containing triangular tiles is completed and can be scored. It includes no triangular (or square) gaps.

Example 2: The presence of a triangular gap in this city creates a ruling conflict:

Base game rules state this city is not completed as it contains a gap;

On the other hand, Halflings rules do not treat a half-tile gap as a proper one, so the city could be considered completed.

No official clarification exists to solve this contradiction.

Similar cases can arise when deciding whether a road is completed if interrupted by a triangular gap.

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Triangular gaps in farms are also an open question: It is not defined if the break the landscape and therefore can separate farms.

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The scoring of a completed city or road will follow the normal rules and any triangular tiles will be counted as a regular tile.

Example 1:RED plays the Halfling tile completing his city. He scores 10 points, (2 points for each Halfling tile, 2 points for each of the other tiles, and 2 points for the pennant).

Example 2:BLUE plays the Halfling tile completing his road. He scores 5 points, (1 point for each Halfling tile and 1 point for each of the other tiles.

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The following image illustrates the scoring of a completed cloister with Halfling tiles in its surroundings.

Example: This cloister is considered complete even if there is a triangular gap in its surrounding. It will score 16 points (1 point per the cloister tile plus 1 point per triangle tile.)

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Farm scoring is affected by the landscape continuity. There are cases not covered by the rules or later clarifications.

Example: It is not defined if RED and BLUE are on the same farm, as it is not clear whether the triangular gap in the picture interrupts the farm or not. The players will have to decide a ruling and the outcomes will be totally different when scoring the city in this example:

Case 1 - The farms are connected: If so, RED has the majority of the farm and gets 3 points for the city. BLUE gets 0 points.

Case 2 - The farms are not connected: In this case, RED and BLUE share the farm on the left, and RED is alone in the farm on the right. RED gets 3 + 3 = 6 points and BLUE gets 3 points.